Deep down, Gemma Grainger and her squad know Wales have already achieved one of their most significant victories. More than 12,000 fans will be in attendance for their winner-takes-all match against Slovenia on Tuesday night (September 6), an affair which if won will see Wales Women relish a historic World Cup 2023 play-off berth and, if play-off permutations fall fortunately, a first-ever major tournament appearance in Australia and New Zealand next summer.
The potential is dizzying, not least in front of a record home crowd, one which will emphatically smash its previous iteration set just months ago. Back then, to reach 5,445 (eclipsing the 5,053 set at Rodney Parade against England in 2018) felt empowering. To reach more than 12,000 so effortlessly only months later is enough to make one feel invincible.
Such fanfare for the women’s game is a reality that, a few years ago, played out only in the furthest, most delirious corners of these players’ imaginations, and even these moments were rationed. Not out of some commitment to stoicism or hyper-focused professionalism, but because there is no use in expending mental energy over something that others are simply not prepared to acknowledge as even capable of existing in this current galaxy, let alone this country.
“I don’t think we had enough… of anything, really,” said Sophie Ingle when asked if the occasion of Wales v Slovenia was something she thought possible five years ago. “The basics, the support off the pitch, things on the pitch, staff members, we are fully supported now by the FAW. The amount of staff we have is phenomenal. Years ago, we just had a manager, maybe one coach if we were lucky, one physio, whereas now we have many, many involved.
“The squad is different as well. We get 26 players on camp now, whereas years ago we could hardly get 11, you know. It’s grown massively and results are going our way, which is really good.”
Ingle chuckles softly as she admits all of this, as if still, somewhere deep down, there lingers strands of shock at what threatens to feel like a sudden shift in appetite and landscape. However, as she leads her team out onto the pitch for their final World Cup qualifier, any residual shock will subside. An upshot of 12,000 fans is no fluke. They don’t arrive at Cardiff City Stadium in their red-clad droves for a twee cheerleading exercise or to “be nice” to women’s football. They attend because the quality of the team demands this level of enthusiasm, and Welsh football is now in a place where it is prepared to not only acknowledge that but embrace it.
For Wales manager Grainger, it’s no coincidence that just two days before the women’s national team will break their record attendance, the women’s domestic game shattered its own on the Adran Premier league’s opening weekend as 1,426 fans attended Swansea City’s 2-0 victory over Cardiff Met at the Swansea.com Stadium (read more about the game here).
“When I’m looking at highlights of the game, when I’m seeing the comments, it’s really showing the standard of women’s football in Wales,” Grainger said. “Then seeing the crowd, they’re doing exactly as us. They’re inspiring people. Women’s football is something that is visible, it’s accessible and that’s something that we always strive to do. It’s about people knowing football is a sport that can be accessed by all.”
Such is the legacy being left behind by this side and those who preceded them. Already, the FAW’s BE Football programme has triggered a whopping 84% of girls across participating schools to play football in their PE lessons, a figure which is nearly double the 49% in the 38 schools involved before the programme was created in 2020. Girls-only clubs are growing in popularity, with investment taken far more seriously than in previous years.
All of these are inarguable triumphs. Together, they are potentially epoch-defining, proof to the power of seeing women not merely playing the game but being taken seriously while doing so.
It is why Grainger does not entertain any suggestion that a failure to win against Slovenia, a winner-takes-all match, would represent another failure on Wales Women’s mission to qualify for a major tournament, having come so close in their last two campaigns.
“We’re right on track for where we want to be as a team, in terms of playing style on the pitch to the standards that we are setting off it, but also what we are doing to inspire the next generation and how we have respected the people who came before us,” Grainger said. “That’s what this team has been about.
"It’s very similar to the men’s. We want to make sure we have a clear identity, and of course I understand the results on the pitch matter. We win on Friday night [against Greece], ticket sales go up, I understand all of that but actually this is a lot bigger. We’re on the right track. We will qualify for a major tournament. It’s just a matter of when.”
Of course, the idea of losing this showdown is entertained for only this question, before quickly being disposed of with an unequivocal nod to the ever-present game-plan and the squad’s unswerving mentality. This is not the same squad which has, time after time, fallen at final hurdles, they insist. Even a victory will be celebrated only to a certain point. The ultimate goal is major tournament qualification.
“We’re prepared to win the game, we wouldn’t have any other approach to it,” Grainger said. “Because it’s not about Slovenia. I’ll be happy if we win but I’m not going to be incredibly happy until we get our goal. I know this team can fulfil their potential.”
On paper, Wales are the better side. They should emerge victorious, and a victory would represent a demonstrable new age for women’s football in Wales, one in which standards are set not just on the pitch but off it, too.
A crowd of roughly 1,700 attended Wales’ first qualifier of this World Cup qualifying campaign 12 months ago, a 6-0 demolition job over Kazakhstan at Llanelli's Parc y Scarlets. Wales will finish their World Cup qualifying campaign with more than 12,000 in attendance. It is hard to imagine a more visible representation of the recent growth of women’s football. The philosophical victory has been won. Now, it is about the conceptual one, the one occurring on a rain-soaked pitch for 90 minutes in front of a record-setting crowd.
READ MORE:
Rob Page, Gemma Grainger and the special relationship at the heart of Welsh football
Gwennan Harries is blazing a trail after suffering the injustice of past mistakes
Meeting Sophie Ingle, a Wales icon standing on the brink ahead of a new dawn
